Sam Fender has handed over the complete sum of his £25,000 award winnings to the trust for venues, which works to preserve the Britain's grassroots concert spaces.
The star was presented with the award on October 16 as his new release People Watching was chosen as the top album of the previous year.
He has chosen to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in appreciation of the vital role small stages played in his beginning days.
"As an artist couldn't be pursuing my current career if it weren't for all the gigs I did around the North East, and further afield, when I was beginning," remarked Sam Fender. "These locations are legendary, but they are struggling."
From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these venues have shut down – about 16% of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, well-known musicians such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the MVT in its initiatives to support the industry, by adding a modest fee to their ticket costs, which benefits local stages.
Sam Fender also joined in, raising over £100k on his live tour to help thirty-eight small stages across England, Scotland, and Wales.
These funds supported locations that were dealing with potential shutdown due to challenges stemming from flooding, blazes and bereavements, as well as permit problems, court cases and sound issues.
Other venues obtained monetary aid in modernizing infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that helped musicians and concertgoers.
"The notion that revenue from shows in big venues supports the smaller venues, where it begins for artists like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has said.
He is far from the only musician to contribute his Mercury Prize prize money to charitable organizations.
In Pulp received the prize in 1996 for their release the album, lead singer Cocker declared that the act would donate their prize money to the charity War Child.
During 2002, rapper and singer Ms Dynamite shared her award across a few charities, such as the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"Additionally, I gave a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was younger and they required updated gear," the artist explained to the media.
In recent years, they contributed their winnings to the local youth club that supported their group, alongside other grassroots music organisations.
And the 1994 recipients the group donated their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a friend was identified with the disease.
"Winning was quite enough," stated singer Small. "The cash was the extra but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the cake. So our winning affected somebody else's life."
In the past week, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had protected several local spots in the South East, by transferring them to public stewardship.
The Joiners in Southampton and the other in the city were bought under the community ownership program, which is supported by the arts council and enthusiasts who purchase "ownership units" in the properties.
